After just a few months on the job at the Seattle area Marysville Pilchuck High School, social studies teacher Megan Silberberger faced the unthinkable: a school shooting.
Audio from the 911 call she made to police was released late Wednesday; it revealed how she intercepted the shooter and helped identify him for police, revealing the horrible scene immediately after Jaylen Ray Fryberg opened fire on his friends at a cafeteria table, injuring five students, four of whom died from their injuries.
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"I'm in the cafeteria. I have the shooter. One shooter," the first-year social studies teacher says in one of the more than 15 calls from students, teachers, and parents that were released late Wednesday. "Blood is everywhere. I do not see the gun. I have him down."
According to a student who witnessed the violence, the shooter initially turned the gun on Silberberger but she swatted it away. He then fatally shot himself. She’s since been hailed as a hero.
“I can’t speak highly enough about the professionalism and the great job she did remaining calm, cool, and collected,” said Joe Deedon of Tac One Consulting, a group that trains law enforcement and schools on active shooter situations, on the TODAY Show.
"I need help now. Shooter right here," Silberberger says on the audio. "I tried to stop him before he shot himself."